The Raveling Mantle & The Wandering Wood

Into Goblin Territory

Our morning began at the ruined outer wall of the keep, where Lord Padraig was assessing the damage from the kobold attack. It didn’t look good. But, then, he noticed something: the door to Valthrun’s tower. He had completely forgotten about his court mage—he hadn’t seen him at all during the attack.

I managed to break the door open, after my stronger companions had failed. What we found at the top was disturbing: Valthrun was dead. Well, actually, he was murdered—several black feathered arrows were stuck in his brain-box. On his desk we found a dusty tome, which told of a nightmare realm. We also found a sheet of parchment, which had been partially translated from an ancient looking grey folio:

The guildmages sealed the tear with a powerful ritual, but there was no way to tell how long it would hold. The rift had to be guarded, in any case, from those who would seek to unravel the seal, agents of the dark gods hoping to unleash armies of undead, to make our world like the world of shadow. So, the Nerathi constructed a fortified keep above the rift. This was the beginning of the Gloomwatch, the order of knight defenders I joined in the winter of 331 CY.

It seems that Valthrun was studying the dark realms, and what’s more his digging up the past may have gotten him killed.

We are off now to the wooded hills north of Winterhaven, to the region we were told was goblin territory.

Reclaiming Winterhaven

It was the young dragon’s fate to die today.

Today, Hagen, Jarren, and I marched toward the Keep of Winterhaven. We soon realized that the keep had been sacked by a pack of kobolds (who we later discovered were followers of a young white dragon). While fighting the kobolds, however, Hagen fatefully fell off the ramparts of the keep and died in the moat below. As the fight raged on, a rogue entered the fray and decided to work with the group. We made short work of the kobolds, and pressed on to the keep’s inner bailey.

There we discovered the body of a Winterhaven militiaman, fatefully mangled almost beyond all recognition—it appeared to be the work of a dragon.

Reogar the rogue followed the dragon’s footprints to the lord’s manor and stealthily climbed to the second floor to see if he could spy the dragon. He did. And, he also noticed that the Lord of Winterhaven was defeated, lying prone and badly injured on the floor. There was still a chance to save him, but only Jergal knew if we would.

I decided to try the door of the wizard’s tower, to see if there was anything useful inside. But before I could gain entry I heard the fell flapping of the dragon’s wings above.

Reogar and Jarren scattered, but I felt Jergal’s hand pushing me into melee with the dragon. Things went very badly at first. I was no match for the dragon alone. But Reogar and Jarren joined the battle, and, together, we slew the dragon.

The Road to Winterhaven

Alvenor, Hagen, and Jarren set out on a mission. They have been offered 50 gold coins apiece by a monk if they would map out the keep of Winterhaven. As they set out, they are ambushed by a pack of kobolds in the forest. After dispatching the kobolds, they take a kobold prisoner and attempt to extort information from him, but get only false information. They kill him, and continue on.

The adventure log is where you list the sessions and adventures your party has been on, but for now, we suggest doing a very light “story so far” post. Just give a brief overview of what the party has done up to this point. After each future session, create a new post detailing that night’s adventures.

One final tip: Don’t stress about making your Obsidian Portal campaign look perfect. Instead, just make it work for you and your group. If everyone is having fun, then you’re using Obsidian Portal exactly as it was designed, even if your adventure log isn’t always up to date or your characters don’t all have portrait pictures.